Salon 34: Un-Black Boxing NYC Crime Lab’s DNA Matching Software William Gordon (Public Health Genetics) In October of last year, a federal judge granted a motion filed by investigative journalists at ProPublica to make public the previously proprietary forensic genetics software developed by NYC’s crime lab. ProPublica then put the source code on GitHub. What many in the scientific and legal communities had suspected was confirmed: the code was deeply flawed and calls into question over 1,000 cases where it was used as evidence over a 5 year period. Join Public Health Genetics’ Masters student William Gordon to recount this incredible story blending investigative journalism, the un-black boxing of proprietary DNA evidence, and attempts to address the use of faulty and questionable DNA forensic evidence in the courtroom. References: www.propublica.org… |